


The 'Previous Engagement' Ring

by Crawlingthroughashes



Category: Young Justice
Genre: Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-07
Updated: 2014-06-07
Packaged: 2018-02-03 19:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1754957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crawlingthroughashes/pseuds/Crawlingthroughashes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bart doesn't quite grasp the concept of wedding traditions, and it doesn't help that both he and Jaime are late to their own wedding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The 'Previous Engagement' Ring

**Author's Note:**

> Reallybuckybarnes on tumblr requested a fanfiction where "Bart and Jaime are both late for their wedding bc superhero business". Hope you enjoy.

Shards of broken glass litter the ground as Blue Beetle slips soundlessly into the jewellery store. A gun trains on him, and his arm morphs into a plasma gun in response. "Don't do it ese," he warns, but thugs were never known for being smart. _[Activating plasma cannon wide dispersal. Obliterate the worthless human.]_ Jaime grits his teeth to refrain from replying to the disembodied voice in his head. There was a time when hearing the scarab in the back of his mind made him panic and cringe, wondering if he was losing his sanity. Now though, all he can do is roll his eyes. _'Honestly, Khaji Da,'_ he thinks silently, _'do you have to be so melodramatic?'_ The scarab hums irritably against his spine, but lapses into a temporary silence. Jaime knows the silence is temporary. As if the scarab is able to refrain from not-so-helpful commentary. Between his fiancé and Khaji, Jaime's surprised he's even able to get a word in, because neither of the two knows how to shut up.

A ping! against Jaime's armor-ensconced chest pulls his thoughts to the moment at hand. The man's taut knuckles are clenched around his gun, gripping it as if it were his life line. His face is partially obscured by a mask, but Jaime can see a line of stubble along his jaw. That, paired with his dirt-streaked hair, gives the impression that he just came off the street, and his lanky figure hints that he's just bordering adulthood. He might even still be a teenager, for all Jaime knows. Still, it's hard to find pity for a man who's resorted to shooting him. Jaime wills his plasma gun to retract, and his hand elongates into a midnight blue staple gun in response. Jaime readies his arm to fire a staple, but before he can successfully pin the criminal, a flash of red blurs past, and a cheerful voice greets him.

"Hey, no need, no need, Blue."

"Ba-" Jaime starts to say, but catches himself. He's not about to reveal their identities in the presence of a petty criminal. He lowers his voice. "Flash. What are you doing here?"

Bart grins cheekily at Jaime through his mask, and surprisingly, the red of his uniform doesn't clash with his reddish-brown hair. "Same as you," he passes the gun back and forth between his hands. "Evening patrol."

The thug blinks, and what little of his face that isn't hidden by his mask seems to be contorted into a look of confusion. "Hey... m-my gun! How did you... That was a .45—"

"—I have good reflexes," Bart interrupts, giving Jaime a sideways glance. "Of course, our buddy Blue here already figured that out for himself."

Jaime doesn't bother fighting the blush off his face; with the blue-and-black armor covering him, it's not like anyone can see the brush of red dusting his cheeks. He still gets flustered whenever his and Bart's relationship is hinted at in public. Which is pretty ridiculous, given that the whole League knows about them. It can't get much more embarrassing than that.

"So," Bart clasps his hands together. "Robbing a diamond jewellery store. Doesn't get much more cliched than that, amIright?"

"Don't call the cops!" the man bursts out, his voice laced with panic. "Please, I need the money. You have to believe me. This is the first time I've done anything like this. I just really need the money. Please."

Bart and Jaime exchange a look. Usually criminals had the dignity not to beg. In fact, many of them prided themselves on their audacity to even attempt certain crimes or heists. _[Voice analysis confirms the human is not uttering any falsehoods. But Jaime Reyes, that does not excuse its actions. Eradicate the common street scum.]_

"Scarab says he's telling the truth," Jaime relays to Bart. Bart's eyes widen slightly, and the speedster steps towards the criminal, who is far from intimidating without any weapon to defend himself.

"Look," Bart says slowly, his face melting into a soft smile. He's using that voice again. The voice Jaime's only heard a few times. His voice is raw, but with soothing undertones, and Jaime knows that Bart's abandoned his cheerful front in favor of something more real. "I understand. But you can't just steal. Other people are in the same position."

"You don't understand. I need it," the man repeats again, his voice tinged with the same type of desperation as before.

Jaime knows how tight money can be; he's been attending med school for a while, and it's nothing if not costly.

"Here," Bart says softly, pulling off his left glove. He offers the ring to him. "It's not as impressive as the haul you picked out," he says, nodding his head towards the bag filled to the brim with gem encrusted jewellery, "but it should help."

"You're giving me your wedding ring?"

The gesture hits Jaime and the man at about the same time. "Cariño!" he exclaims, too shocked to feel angry. "I... you can't just give away your engagement ring. And I bought you that! It was expensive."

"Yeah, I know. But, pleaselistenBlue," Bart stutters quickly. "We don't have wedding rings and promise rings in the future. There's hardly enough money for food and necessities. And this retro obsession with rings, honestly, it seems kind of moded. Why put a price on love? Ya know, Kim Kardashian's ring is worth, like, over one million dollars. And why spend money on a ring when we could spend it helping others?"

Jaime's jaw drops in surprise.

"I know it means a lot to you," Bart added slowly, "but it doesn't to me. You mean a lot to me. And you're the only promise I need."

 _[The Bart Allen's reasoning is valid. Diamonds have monetary value, which outweighs sentimentality.]_ Swallowing, Jaime grumbles, "Fine. I guess this is my fault for letting you watch 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians.'"

"You're so crash," Bart breathes, leaning up to kiss Jaime. The armor is rough, but that doesn't stop Bart from wanting to kiss his fiancé.

After pulling a part, Jaime and Bart turn back to the man, who is in a state of shock. "I..." he begins, letting the sentence trail off, trying to form his mouth around the words "thank you."

"'S all crash," Bart holds up a hand to silence him. "We're heroes; it's what we do."

Jaime doesn't think he's ever seen this scale of gratitude on someone's face before. It's strange, looking at the hero gig in this light. So often it seems that being a superhero only entails saving others from physical injury, and not just being a hero for the good of it. The man thanks them again, before leaving. Jaime watches him go, a swell of pride in his chest as he observes Bart. He's still in awe over the fact that Bart just gave his engagement ring to a person they don't even know. Heck, they don't even know the guy's name. "You're too good for me," he mouths.

Bart must somehow hear him (or maybe he said it louder than he thought), because the speedster turns to him. "That's not true, Jaime. You make me want to be a better person." Without waiting for a response, Bart leans up to kiss Jaime again, his lips are warm and soft. Jaime's faceplate retracts, and he kisses back. Bart's fingers twine with his hair, and Jaime's arms instinctively wrap around Bart's lithe body, pulling him flush against him. Jaime's tongue flickers out, tracing the curve of Bart's lower lip as they press closer, closer. Jaime's long brown hand cups Bart's cheek, his thumb dragging lovingly across Bart's face. Jaime wants to keep kissing Bart. He could spend the rest of his life just kissing him, and he wouldn't have any regrets. Bart likes to rush through things, to take things quickly, and his kisses are usually sloppy and rushed, so Jaime takes it as a challenge to get his speedster to slow down every once in a while. He wants to keep kissing Bart, but a sudden thought strikes him, and he pulls away.

"What time is it?"

Bart sighs impatiently. "Like, eight-o-seven why?"

Mentally face-palming himself, Jaime asks dryly, "Don't you have a previous engagement?"

Bart blinks. "Did you just quote the Incredibles?"

_"Bart."_

"You did. You just quoted Elastigirl from The Incredibles. And you say _I_ watch too much TV."

"Bart! Wedding. Ours. Like, half-an-hour ago."

"Oops,I'llseeyouthere me a-more." With that, Bart's gone, speeding away before Jaime has time to cringe at his terrible pronunciation.

"See you soon, mi amor," Jaime says softly, even though Bart is already long gone.

When Jaime gets to the Church, he can hear the din of voices even through the broad doors.

"Hey ca-reen-yo! Took you long enough." Bart waves from the top step, with his wild hair messily parted in a half-hearted attempt, and a black suit hugging his figure nicely. It probably took the speedster a whole two seconds to get ready.

Jaime shakes his head, and lets his armor crawl up his skin, peeling back to reveal the person underneath. Bart grins happily, but he doesn't voice his happiness. "What?" Jaime demands, somewhat impatiently. As proud as he is of Bart, he's still a bit bitter over the fact that his fiance gave his engagement ring away.

"Nothing," Bart says slowly, his eyes a pale green through dark lashes. "Just thinking that you could use a little help getting into your suit."

Jaime blushes. "No Bart," he says with conviction he doesn't really feel. "We're already late for our own wedding. And there's blood in your hair," he adds as an afterthought.

"I... wai-what?" Bart runs a hand through his blood caked, dirt streaked hair. "Not crash," he mutters, his lips pursing into a pout that makes Jaime want to kiss him again. "Must've happened earlier. I mean, I could take a shower really quick."

"We're already late," Jaime chastises. "And hurry up, it's bad luck to see your fiance before the wedding."

Bart mutters something along the lines of "these wedding traditions are so retro," but he heads inside anyways.

Jaime smiles as he watches Bart go, knowing that the next time he sees him, they'll be married.

A few weeks later, while Jaime's on patrol in El Paso, he hears a ragged voice shout his name. "Blue Beetle!" He descends silently, and turns to face the direction the voice came from. "Blue Beetle!" Jaime's eyes widen with recognition, but he doesn't speak. A lanky man is running breathlessly towards him. He holds out a circular band, and presses it into Jaime's armored palm. "Give this to your husband. I don't need the money any more."

"Que?"

"I got a job!" he says enthusiastically. "I mean, I managed to stea-borrow the security tape from the jewellery store, and I showed it to the local newspaper. It had footage of you and the Flash kissing! The tabloids ate up the whole superhero lovestory. I wrote an article about you two, and they hired me on the spot."

Jaime's eyes widened behind his amber lenses. "I'm... glad to hear it. Congrats, ese."

"Look, I just wanted to thank you. And Flash. You two are the real heroes out there."

Jaime's eyes swept over the man, lingering on his grateful expression. He smiled in return, but not as widely as Bart smiled later when he gave him his diamond ring back.


End file.
